67King

Done this with an engine out of a car, but not in. Got the transaxle out, TT moved rearward, four bolts to engine block out, slave cylinder out, starter off, fork pin removed, speed and reference sensors removed, and not sure what the third one below it is. Still have two grounds to remove, but the bellhousing is loose, but not coming off. I was going to remove the grounds after I got it a bit more loose so I could access them better.

My only guess is that the bracket that bolts to teh block that holds the speed and reference sensors needs to be removed. I spent about an hour trying to get the outside bolt out, to no avail. The top one, no problem (except there is now a socket and bolt in the bellhousing somewhere).

Does anyone know of something I am missing here? Do I have to remove that bracket (that holds the speed and ref sensors)? Factory manual only states to remove the sensors. I've got a friend coming over for dinner tonight, I might be able to get a little bit of help. Just want to know if I'm wasting my time in asking him to help me get that 6mm internal drive inserted into that &^*%ing bolt or not.

Crackership

Is the bellhousing clear of the dowel pins on the block? Mine hung up on those when I took it off...

As far as I know, the S&R sensor bracket does not have to be removed, just the sensors. I don't think the third sensor has to come out, but I'm not completely sure... it's attached to the S&R bracket too, but I think the hole for it in the bell housing is slotted. I don't know what it is either but I think is used for some kind of diagnostic device... the other end of the wire goes to that plug on the rear hoist point.

FWIW, I don't think that you'll get much movement without disconnecting the grounds though... one of them bolts to the block and the other two are on the bellhousing.. you'll be trying to pull the harness apart if you don't at least remove one or the other.

Good luck! not a "fun" job

Crackership

There's a really good clear pic of the grounds in zermatt951's re-assembly thread. Page 2, post 19

67King

Yes clear of dowels. It "giggles" but wont come out. Will spare Kevin dirty hands tonight and just suck up doing grounds where it is. Or try harder to get them I should say.

Slider 951

Check to see if the "sensor shields" are still in the bracket. (really thin aluminum tubes) I think they are supposed to shield the sensors from electro-magnetic interference. Assuming they're stuck in there, try a piece of steel rod with a small "L" shaped hook on the end and very carefully fish them out.

thirdgenbird

i fought the bell housing on my car as well. i ended up having to take the sensor bracket off as well as tilt the engine back a bit.

Tom M'Guinn

Should not have to take the sensor bracket off. Remove the grounds. Also, if your car is well preserved, check to see if the starter cables are clamped to the bellhousing. If so, undo them....

Lemming

Clutch fork?

jerome951

Same here. The guide pins were interfering w/ mine (not enough room to the firewall to clear these) until I took the sensor block out.

Chris White

You have to take the reference senor bracket out – no doubt about it.
The only way around it is if the previous owner / mechanic modified the bell housing (I do this on any track car) by cutting the bell housing (once its off the car) so that the sensor hole extends all the way to the edge of the bell housing. (that will make sense when you have it apart)

User 52121

This was my thought...

67King

There is one other option. You can also just break the &*%^ing bracket, as I did. Granted, I will have to now find a replacement, but after trying to seat a &%^*ing internal drive tool into the ^&%&*ing bolt for an hour and a half, and multiple hand cramps, I tried a little more pursuasion.

So yeah, that was the problem. Thanks all for the reponses. Now to call up Josh B or Lart and see about a bracket.......

JohnKoaWood

You could also convert to a stand alone, so you dont have to use the sensors!

67King

Well, since you asked, here's why I'm doing this:
1. The 88 is a dedicated track car. I will likely start racing it in the not-too-distant future. I have been building it as an SP3 class car. That requires the stock DME and KLR, but they can use chips (which will likely be spec within a year). So I have to keep the sensors in it. But, I have an aluminum flywheel to put on it. I have a pretty new SPEC clutch and PP, but it appears that this car already has a Centerforce on it, so I may just keep that there. But the main point here is that I have to keep the sensor in place.

2. The 89 is getting a Megasquirt. I've already built it, and have set it up to use the Ford EDIS system. Unfortunately, I'm having issues finding a place for the crank trigger to mount. Chris sells a 60-2 setup, but I really want to use the Ford system. Anyway, the 89 is a 64K mile car that - to my knowledge - still has the original clutch. So.......I am thinking I'll pull the flywheel off of the 88, take it to a machine shop and have them drill holes every 10 degrees, and use the factory reference sensor setup, only now sending PIPs to the EDIS module/Megaquirt instead of the DME. I can't find any reason this won't work.

rlm328

As far as the reference sensor I used the cam. Drilled the cam belt cog every 45 degrees (8 magnets).